Gone are the days of baby boomers not understanding acronyms and emojis. This generation has found its place in the digital world — and we love to see it!
We can all admit there was a time where we rolled our eyes at the incessant Minion memes on Facebook and long-winded comments in which the first letter of every word is capitalized. How could we not be annoyed? It reminded us of our grandparents asking us how to send a text message or turn their phone to silent. To us, the digital world was easy to navigate, and these folks just didn’t get it.
But now that a good number of boomers are fluent in texting and posting across various social platforms, we’ve finally stopped to listen to what they have to say — and we definitely don’t regret it. The younger generations of content creators and observers are now welcoming boomers with open arms. And how could we not? It reminds many of us of our grandparents telling us a joke or lovingly giving us advice.
WANT 2 TELL YOU SOMETHING‼️
THIS IS YOUR ONE & ONLY LIFE,& IT WILL GO FASTER THAN YOU THINK.FIND PASSION,IT MIGHT BE WORK,ART,TRAVEL,MUSIC,DOESNT MATTER WHAT IT IS,BUT PASSION WILL SAVE YOU FROM 50% OF PAIN. REMEMBER
“THIS IS NOT A DRESS
REHEARSAL”.& DONT SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF— Cher (@cher) May 21, 2021
Suddenly, the emojis and line breaks are endearing. Yelling at the camera because they don’t know where the microphone is has become heartwarming. And grandparents giving dating advice to their younger viewers deserve to be hyped up as much as possible.
We’re not here to poke fun at older people who don’t understand how the internet works. In fact, many of these boomers know exactly how to post content and engage with their followers — and they bring something unique to the virtual table. They’re putting their own spin on memes and trends in a way that millennials and zoomers simply can’t.
@jebandjane he called me antique, what a freak #grandma #foryou #ArtSkills
We’ve all come a long way since the “ok boomer” trend. There was a time when young people felt the need to defend themselves against the critiques of older people. This often translated into those young people poking fun at the way boomers struggled to navigate social media and the cringey things they posted. But it seems that more recently, some of those in this older age group have started showing us that they just want to join in on the fun — not argue.
Now that defenses are down, those seemingly negative qualities are being praised across all age groups. We love when you’re confused about how this whole social media thing works, and we celebrate when you get it just right.
Don’t get me wrong — this is not meant to be patronizing. This is a classic story of the underdog rising up and becoming accepted. Kids used to have what seemed like a monopoly over many social platforms, but we’re now making space for people of all ages and walks of life. These boomers have proved themselves capable of keeping up in a virtual world that wasn’t really built for them.
I won’t pretend that there aren’t still unaccepting youngins who use the tired “ok boomer” approach to older content creators. And I won’t say that there aren’t still hoards of bitter old folks who do nothing but complain about younger generations. But I will give credit where it is due — and a lot of these boomers have come a long way in the digital space.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t seem to matter how old you are so long as you can laugh at yourself and the latest memes. And the internet is a lot better when everyone is invited to join in on the joke anyway.
